A VAT fraudster has been jailed for 18 months for setting up a bogus company and dishonestly raking in more than £200,000 of taxpayers’ money.

Shazad Hamid, 33, formed Pro Building Ltd, of Whetley Hill, Bradford, for what a judge described as a “sophisticated, professionally-planned and long-enduring fraud”.

Hamid, of Emm Lane, Heaton, Bradford, pleaded guilty to being knowingly concerned in the fraudulent evasion of VAT between February 2008 and October 2010.

Prosecutor Chloe Hudson said the father-of-three received £208,515 while claiming to be director of a legitimate company.

He was caught after his arrest in Scotland for other matters.

Miss Hudson said it was “an elaborate fraud” with false bank accounts, spreadsheets and logos and incorrect VAT numbers.

Hamid was arrested on October 27 last year and his computer seized.

He told officers he set up the building firm for a Latvian called Dave.

Miss Hudson told Bradford Crown Court yesterday others were involved in the scam, that was fraudulent from the outset.

“This was a planned fraud carried out over a significant period of time,” she said.

The court set out a timetable for a confiscation hearing under the Proceeds of Crime Act to claw back money made from the fraud.

Hamid’s barrister, Soheil Khan, said his client had no previous convictions and had pleaded guilty.

He was full of remorse and regret and his family would suffer most when he went to jail.

“He is resigned to the fact that he acted most dishonestly in engaging in this enterprise,” said Mr Khan.

He said his client was from “a thoroughly decent family” but had become addicted to drugs.

The judge, Recorder Charles Ekins, told Hamid: “You have defrauded in effect the taxpayers of this country of a figure in excess of £200,000.”

The judge said although Hamid claimed to have made only £20,000 for himself from the scam, that did not affect the seriousness of the offence.

“The public would be astonished if I was to do other than to send you to prison immediately today,” he said.